December 2, 2008
Prayers For Gotti
N.J. church hopes he repents
Terminally ill with cancer, jailed mob boss John Gotti is getting some help of a spiritual kind.
Members of the Evangel Church in Scotch Plains, N.J., include Gotti in a list of people they pray for during a regular Wednesday evening meeting, complete with guitar music that resonates through a spacious Colonial style building housing the 1,000-member Pentecostal congregation.
The prayers for Gotti are not an endorsement of his criminal life, stressed the Rev. Kevin M. Brennan, but rather an effort to get him to acknowledge his past wrongs and hopefully see a cure of his head, neck and throat cancer.
"Our overarching concern in prayer for Mr. Gotti is that he becomes spiritually aware of the consequences of his past behavior [and] seeks God's commitment," said Brennan, who presides over the prayers. "We would also pray for his physical healing."
Gotti, who is serving a life sentence after his 1992 federal racketeering conviction, is confined to the U.S. Medical Center for Prisoners in Springfield, Mo. Friends say he may live up to a year.
On Wednesday, Gotti's name was included again in a list of people and groups the congregation prays for. The list, projected on a large screen above the altar, included people suffering from sickness, survivors of a recent volcanic eruption in the Philippines and even young children tempted by sex and drugs.
Brennan explained in an interview that the congregation's prayers are very specific and ask God's help for particular things, such as a cure for a disease or jobs for the unemployed.
Brennan mentioned Gotti twice in the prayer service, which was punctuated by song and evangelical chants.
"We pray that you will open up his heart to see you," Brennan said in one prayer, adding the hope that Gotti would ask God to "forgive him of his sins."
Brennan explained that the impetus for including Gotti in the special prayers came from John Di Giorgio, a relative of the convicted crime boss. Brennan described Di Giorgio as a "very important part of this church" and said he was the one who suggested Gotti's name be included in the prayers.
"He is the guy who weeps over his cousin," Brennan said of Di Giorgio.
In an interview with Newsday, Di Giorgio, 38, said he was a second cousin to Gotti's wife, Victoria.
Di Giorgio described being a troubled youth living in New Jersey who dropped out of school, was enamored of mobster relatives like Gotti and had a "complete hatred for anything."
But at 19 Di Giorgio said he had a "showdown" with God after reading a section in the Book of Genesis and vowed to follow a different path.
"I am considered the 'black sheep' by many in the family due to my decision to follow Jesus as the Boss of all bosses," Di Giorgio said in an e-mail. He added that a number of Gotti's relatives are turning to religion for solace.
The Evangel Church is part of the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination that believes that in the final judgment those who had wicked lives will be raised and judged by the way they lived.
"That is nice that they are doing that," said Lewis Kasman, Gotti's adopted son, when told of the prayers, "That is a wonderful thing."
Mixx it!
Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.